Non-Mormon in Utah?

[Sky Dancer]

What it like for you? I would love to talk to anyone who isn't a Mormon and who has lived in Utah.

"Living as a non-Mormon in Utah may be the closest a white person can come to understanding what it's like to be a minority in this country."
http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/features/2001/0104.mencimer.html

 

[Mr. H.]

Just passing through Utah is enough to make you feel like an outsider.
I think it was '79 or '80 that a friend and myself took a drive out west. Spent the night in a fairly large city in Utah. We walked into a Pizza Hut and all of a sudden you could've heard a pin drop. Stares, whispers. Weirdest experience evah.

 

[catzmeow]

What it like for you? I would love to talk to anyone who isn't a Mormon and who has lived in Utah.

"Living as a non-Mormon in Utah may be the closest a white person can come to understanding what it's like to be a minority in this country."
"Theocracy in America" by Stephanie Mencimer

I lived in Utah for 10 years; I was a non-Mormon for 9 of them (I was a convert who moved to Utah and married my missionary before divorcing after 6 months).

It is very much like being a minority. It makes you rethink, ENTIRELY, your views on separation of church and state, prayer in school, and what it would be like to have a different skin color. It's like living in a foreign country. As a white midwesterner, it was a big learning curve for me. I don't regret doing it, at all.

I loved living there, for the most part. But, you are always outside of the mainstream. Always.

I think it's gotten somewhat better in the past 10 years, though. You can actually buy a drink in a bar now without any hassles.

 

[Mr. H.]

Yeah I remember now. We tried ordering beer in that Pizza Hut and were surprised to learn that they didn't have any LOL. Hell I don't think we found any beer in that town. Got there in the evening and were hankerin' to get drunk and party. Bummer.

 

[Sky Dancer]

What it like for you? I would love to talk to anyone who isn't a Mormon and who has lived in Utah.

"Living as a non-Mormon in Utah may be the closest a white person can come to understanding what it's like to be a minority in this country."
"Theocracy in America" by Stephanie Mencimer

I lived in Utah for 10 years; I was a non-Mormon for 9 of them (I was a convert who moved to Utah and married my missionary before divorcing after 6 months).

It is very much like being a minority. It makes you rethink, ENTIRELY, your views on separation of church and state, prayer in school, and what it would be like to have a different skin color. It's like living in a foreign country. As a white midwesterner, it was a big learning curve for me. I don't regret doing it, at all.

I loved living there, for the most part. But, you are always outside of the mainstream. Always.

I think it's gotten somewhat better in the past 10 years, though. You can actually buy a drink in a bar now without any hassles.

It's certainly a beautiful state. What did you love about living there. My wife and I traveled through in the late 80's. We were a bit nervous about it. We camped in Canyonlands after a two month silent retreat in New Mexico. It felt like a very sacred place.

The town were edgier for us. We had an odd experience in a motel which made us book out of the state fast after that.

 

[catzmeow]

I loved the people. I loved the mountains. I loved my job, and the good work I was able to do there. I even enjoyed working professionally with the LDS Church (very much, in fact). People were really good to me out there, in spite of my "differentness".